Improvement in tessellated floors



LAVINAS B. HAMILTON, 0F BOSTON, MASSACIIUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 108,781, dated Novemberl, 1870.

lMPROVEMENT IN TESSELLTED FLOORS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the s'ame.

' ment of tessellated floors, though the Iinvention may be applied for purposes which serve a merely ornamental purpose without being subject towear.

Tessellated floors of wood have heretofore been made of blocks of wood, arranged in the oor plankwise of the grain, or, in other words. with the fibers or grain ofthe wood horizontal.

Under wear the wood often splintered, and always wore away rapidly, and the defects of the wood, such as shakes in the growth, became apparent and injui-ed the beauty of the work. d

In my invention I cut the wood so that the, grain or fiber shall be perpendicular or square to thesurface of the floor, or other object which is made up of an assemblage ot' blocks closely joined together, by which arrangement I avoid all splintering, and greatly increase the capacity of the oor or other object to resist wear and abrasion.-

'lhe blocks may be of any desired size and form,

' and of any color which can be supplied from wood in its natural state. or the wood can be dyed to any suitable color.

rlhc blocks muy have port-ions of any geometric or ornamental shape, punched or cut out, and the vacancies thus made may be iilled with plugs-of wood litting the vacant spaces, and, with the grain of the plugs parallel with the grain or fiber ofthe blocks.

The blocks are assembled in groups andfjoined to acommon base, which vmay be of wood, having its grain at rightanelesto thev grain inthe tcssellated blocks.

The 'drawings represent in liigure l a plan embodying my invention, and in Figure 2 a sectional elevation, the section being taken in the plane of the line z a, iig; l.

The blocks a b c d are eut from the end ot' plank or timber, so that the grain or fiber of the wood runs,

substantially,through the blocks at right angles to their surfaces presented in iig. 1, said blocks'being niade of any desired-size and'form, and of any woods required, so as to produce, by au assemblage of such blocks, .any design or arrangement 'of colors or pat- Iferns. v

The material of the blocks may be cut through so v as to form spaces of any desirable ornamental or geometrical shape, by submitting the blocks to the action of a solid punch, the blocks being placed upon an open die, so tliat the punch will force ont of theblock a plug corresponding to the shape of the punch and the opening in the die, and the plugs thus forced out of the blocks may be inserted -in the openings or spaces thus made in other blocks, care heilig taken to have the plugs of colors diiierent from the colors ofthe blocks into 'which they are inserted, so as to produce such contrasts as are desired.

For example, suppose the block a is of a white-col- /ored wood, like maple for example, and the block d of a black wood, like ebony, then the plug f, punched out of block d, will be `inserted in the opening made in block a, and the plug y, punched out of block ll-,j

will be inserted in block il. 'Iuhe other blocks and plugs therefrom may be treated in a similar manner.

In cases where the pattern for'the plugs to be in- ,sei-ted is very intricate, or where the design is not likely to be repeated often enough to pay for the construction of special dies and punches, the `spaces in the blocks may be worked out by boring-tools, saws,

chisels, and otherwood-working implements, andthe plugs to tit in the spaces may also be worked out by tools or machinery used in joinery.,

In assembling the separate blocks into groups making larger blocks, for convenience in laying tloors or for covering other surfaces, the small blocks are closely fitted upon and secured to a base which'is made up of 011e, two, or more thicknesses of wood, h t', placed plankwise of the grain, as seen in @1T uthesmall l' blocks may be cemented to a thinner medium to hold them together, such, for example, as pasteboard, or other suitable cheap material.

To keep the blocks from absorbing moisture they are treated, before they are jointed together, with oil or other suitable repellent of moisture. The pores being thus iilled, the surface exposed is capable of taking-'a high degree of finish.

Where expensive woods are used theyl may be econoinized bymaking the blocks a l) c d thin, in which case the thickness and strength of the backing h 'i may be increased, il' desirable, and care should be taken to have the union with 4the backing made very perfect: rlhe thinner the blocks are made the greater will be the facility withwhich the punching opera? tions described can be performed.

` .In laying floors withvgroups of niy tessellated blocks l propose, in some cases, to bed them on a stratum of plaster, much in thc'way in which tiles and thin square pieces of' marble and slate are now laid on rough sub-flooring.

I claimauf effet l.' For covering floors und other surfaces, assemblages of blocks of' various kinds or colors of wood with the grain or ber thereof disposed Substantially as described, when such blocks are united to n. backing common to all the blocks of such assemblage or group, for the purpose speeilied.

' 2. Aa :1. new lnzuiufaeture, blocks of wood, in which the grain is suhstautiullysqlmre to the surface presented to view, when inlaid with plugs or llings of \vood. with the grain thereof'y disposed in the same di-A reetiou with the grain of the blocks, saidplugs or filling, extending through the entire thickness of the bloeks,.subsmntiully :is and for the purpose described. \Vitnesses: L. B. HAMILTON.

J. B. CRosBY, C. WARREN BROWN. 

